The Eminence in Shadow (2023)
[é°ăźćźćè ă«ăȘăăăăŠ!]
Volume 6
Author: Daisuke Aizawa
Illustrator: Tozai
Publisher: Enterbrain
Synopsis:
A shadowy organization pulling the strings in Midgar becomes the target of a mysterious serial killer called Jack the Ripper.
Impressions:
I expected the character of Christina Hope from the previous volume to be mostly incidental and forgotten as we move on, but she's essentially the protagonist in the first sequence of this volume as she tries to outmaneuver the Thirteen Nightblades who run Midgar behind the scenes (predictably as patsies for the Cult of Diablos). Longtime readers will probably figure out the mystery behind Jack the Ripper rather quickly, but it was fun going through a pseudo-detective story for a change, especially if you're somewhat familiar with Detective Conan.
After that, we dig into Delta's backstory for a bit, which is nice for shedding a little more light on the character, and then we pick up with Akane as she's introduced to Shadow Garden. I think this is the most screentime Eta has gotten so far in the novels and she can be pretty scary. We get introduced to several more members of Shadow Garden over the course of the novel and we'll see if they get more attention as we go forward. The epilogue has Alpha reminiscing on how the Seven Shades first came together, which is really nice.
I'm sure a lot of readers would have preferred it if we dug into things like Zeta's little project or how things are going in Oriana, but what we get is nice all the same, even if it feels like something of an interlude before we drive forward with the bigger plot beats. If you're a fan of the series, you'll have more than enough reason to want to get this. However, with no word on when Volume 7 is coming out, I may have to pick up the web novel to get my fix.
Rating:Own It